[라포르시안] Bongchim is an acupuncture that uses bee venom extracted from bees, and has excellent pain relief and anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, it is mainly used to treat musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain and arthritis, and is widely applied to trauma and skin whitening.
However, bee venom has also caused some anaphylaxis, which has been a burden on both medical staff and patients. This is the reason why studies are being actively conducted to accurately elucidate the mechanism of Bongchim.
On the 18th, a research team led by Kim Hyun-seong, a senior researcher at the Spine and Joint Research Institute of Jaseng Oriental Hospital (Director In-hyuk Ha), announced on the 18th that they had proven the mechanism of the nerve cell regeneration effect of the apamin component contained in Bongchim. The research results were published in the August issue of ‘Toxins’, an SCI(E)-level international academic journal.
The research team collected neurons from the cerebral cortex of rats on the 17th day of embryonic day to check the neurotoxicity of the components that make up Bongchim, and then added bee venom, melittin, PLA2 (phospholipase 2), and apamine at various concentrations, respectively. Cell viability was compared by treatment over time.
| In high-magnification microscopy, the amount and length of axon regeneration increased as the concentration of apamine increased in neurons treated with apamine compared to neurons with laceration damage. |
As a result, bee venom and melittin showed significant toxicity at concentrations above 0.1 μg/mL, and PLA2 showed toxicity from 0.01 μg/mL. On the other hand, apamine had no negative effect on cell viability up to a concentration of 10 μg/mL. No toxicity was found in the additional 48-hour apamine treatment experiment.
Apamine was found to have an effect on nerve regeneration. The research team conducted an experiment to examine the effect of apamine on nerve regeneration by treating the apamine after inflicting physical laceration damage on the neurons of the cerebral cortex. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the higher the concentration of apamine treatment, the significantly increased the amount of regeneration of the axon, the role of transmitting neural information. In particular, apamine also increased the production of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), which induce nerve regeneration. An increase in both factors means that the function of damaged nerve cells is improved.
In neurons treated with apamine, the amount and length of axon regeneration increased as the concentration of apamine increased.
In addition, this study also revealed that apamine promotes the expression of genes and proteins related to nerve regeneration. After apamine treatment on damaged cortical neurons, the expression of NF200 (Neurofilament 200-kDa), one of the cell regeneration-related genes, and GAP-43 (Growth Associated Protein-43), a protein that plays an important role in nerve regeneration, were significantly increased. was analyzed to be
Kim Hyun-seong, senior researcher at Jaseng Oriental Hospital Spine and Joint Research Institute, the first author of the paper, said, “This study can be used as important basic data to determine the treatment direction when using Bong acupuncture for patients with spinal and neurological diseases in the future.” Through this, apamine could be a promising candidate for the treatment of related diseases.”
